This report summarizes the activities of the South Carolina State Library for 1998-1999. Sections include: (1) library governance and mission statement; (2) brief library history; (3) details about the organization and operations of the library, including a description of each of the six service departments, a list of library staff, highlights of…

This paper describes the increasingly dynamic involvement of information professionals in the learning and teaching process in higher education. The converged service model at the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom) is described. Established in 1995, the converged service brought the university library, computing service, television service,…

This paper describes the academic library environment in Finland, discussing increases in research funding that have not been directly evident in library budgets. It then describes the FinELib program, the National Electronic Library, which has a centralized approach to joint acquisition of electronic information resources. The key issues have…

This paper focuses on the responsiveness of libraries to user needs within the context of a changing academic environment. First, the character of the changes in the academic environment and the consequences of them for the relationship between scientific information and users are elaborated. Then, the kinds of responses needed for the adequate…

This report describes the University Library Alumni Outreach Research Project. The goals of the project were twofold: to describe and analyze alumni outreach initiatives currently offered by university libraries belonging to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) as well as the alumni programs and services offered by the universities…

Libraries are in a process of fundamental change brought about by radical changes in technology. This paper charts the changes that have taken place over the years and makes some assumptions as to how the future will look. Barriers to increased use of technology are analyzed and detailed, including: lack of uniformity in search systems; the…

This paper outlines the efforts of the United Kingdom (UK) Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) to help UK higher education institutions deal with the growing diversity of information resources. These efforts are based on two strands: the Electronic Libraries Program and the development of the JISC collections. These strands are now coming…

This document outlines the Alaska State Plan for 1998-2002 prepared in accordance with the Library Services and Technology Act. The overall goal of the State Library program is to assure access for all Alaskans to the library resources necessary to meet informational, educational, cultural, and recreational needs. Population characteristics…

Focusing on successful management of the school library media center (SLMC) as a system, this latest edition of an authoritative work addresses and integrates the many trends and developments of the past decade while maintaining the vision of the SLMC as the nerve center of the media system--a network of services oriented to the educational…

The Rutherford B. Hayes Library opened in 1916, when the building in Fremont, Ohio was dedicated as the first presidential library and museum. The library's original purpose was to preserve the 12,000 volume personal library of President Hayes along with archival material from his careers in law, the military, and politics. This was a radical idea…

Describes how the Tulsa City-County Library System built a 22-branch CD-ROM-based network with the emerging thin-client/server technology, and succeeded in providing patrons with the most current research tools and information resources available. Discusses costs; networking options; the Citrix WinFrame system used; equipment and connectivity.…

University of Akron administrators recognized that the library was the primary information resource on campus and the Web was another form of information. Previously, responsibility for Web development and policy passed between various committees and subcommittees. This article describes the implementation of a university Webmaster within the…

Reports on a survey of 70 research libraries in Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Results show that libraries are rapidly acquiring automated processing systems, CD-ROM databases, and connections to computer networks. Discusses specific data on system implementation and network services by country and by type of…

Explores the evolving paradigm of academic libraries, the impact of this change on the library director's role, and the orientation and qualifications. Reveals that the "post-hierarchical" library will call for a leader who is flexible and innovative, a superb communicator with good analytical skills and deductive and reasoning ability, as well as…

Describes how a historic church building in New Woodstock, New York was converted into a full-service modern library. Discusses community support and patron involvement in the project, the design plan which retained the historical integrity and satisfied modern requirements, funding from local contributions, spatial arrangements, and provisions…